The Uberman Series Day 2
On the second day, Uberman started to become a little less friendly. I had my 12 am nap to begin the day and I was mentally and in every way normal and fine but then the 4 am nap came along and things changed drastically, and unfortunately not for the better. After the 4 am nap, I was in the dreaded graveyard hour and that's when the nightmare played on repeat. I tried reading but I couldn't focus, If I focused really hard then I could not understand what I was reading. My eyes were tired from an extended period of staring to the point that my vision blurred. I decided to shut my laptop off for the day. But an interesting observation that I will share is that everything was fine till before the 4 am nap. For some contrast, I had been doing some calculus on both day 1 and 2 and I couldn't find any noticeable difference in my cognitive abilities. If at all, I did better than usual days. Now, that couldn't have been specifically due to this experiment but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. In the slot from 4 to 8 o'clock nap, I tried everything I could to keep myself awake but it didn't work. I couldn't read nor was I coherent enough to make sense in what I was writing. I ended up more or less resting like a log in a dazed state, my eyelids slowly shutting down, and I had to keep forcing them open, periodically even shaking my head to stay awake.
I have no idea how but somehow I managed to stay awake till 8am, by which time I had already brushed my teeth and done a 10-minute meditation, during which I thankfully did not pass out. As I went for the 8am nap, that's where I screwed up for the first time since beginning this experiment. I don't recall what exactly happened but I think it was more on the lines of me waking up to my alarm and deciding to stay in the bed for just a moment longer. Well, the moment longer turned out to be 5 hours. The next when I check my phone, it was almost 1pm. Burying the goof-up, I got up, had my lunch and stayed put on the nap timings and the duration for the rest of the day and given I had already slept for 5 good hours, it more or less was like a complete reset. I was in a way back to square one.
Cautionary Measures
The mistake I made during the 8 am nap was too costly in terms of the experiment. I have no idea how that mistake comes back to haunt me later. Either I will expect to have another crash 24 to 48 hours later, wherein I'm forced to repartition or give in helplessly or I may delay my adaptation point further. Both possibilities don't sound favourable to me. To avoid making a similar mistake, I began focusing on my alarm responses more post that 8am nap. I became mindful about how I responded after I heard my alarm and had a mental conviction before every nap, that no matter what, I will wake up the moment I hear it. No staying for even an extra second. Cutting myself some slack for even a moment could be disastrous at this point. Since then, I have been mindfully getting up to the alarm first thing and then registering it mentally that I've been through a nap. And safer side, I have also identified 3am onwards till about 9 am the rough patch, where I've to be extra careful and try to keep myself engaged somehow.
The activities I was doing were too heavy cognitively and made me drowsier, so I have to come up with something which does not require me thinking as much, but just keeps me awake. I am wondering about doing some drawing or even colouring. It's not the same as thinking about what I want to convey and gauging how to frame it best, neither is it like reading something and trying to make sense of it. I will approach drawing more like an activity to keep my hand busy and thus in a way, engaged through the rough patch. I am also going to walk, pacing back and forth in my room as that is the best I can do right now. My parents sleep outside and I don't want to disturb them. Some activity will be better than laying down and gradually being sucked into the pillows. Anyways, that's all for today. Let's see what tomorrow has in store for me.
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